Otterbein University Recognized in US News & World Report and Washington Monthly

September 12, 2012

Small classes, faculty to student ratio rank
high for Otterbein among Ohio schools

Westerville, OH—Otterbein University has been recognized by U.S. News & World Report and Washington Monthly for its focus on academics, service and student success.

Among the Ohio schools in the Regional Universities–Midwest category of the 2013 edition of “America’s Best Colleges” by U.S. News & World Report, Otterbein boasts the third highest peer review score and third highest percentage of classes with less than 20 students. It also has the second lowest student to faculty ratio and second highest percentage of full-time faculty among its Ohio peers. Otterbein is ranked 16th overall among 149 peers in the Regional Universities–Midwest category.

“We are gratified to be rated so highly by our peers and to have performed so well on so many measures relative to our peers, but we are most excited by the fact that most of our already strong measures showed improvement over previous years,” said Otterbein Provost Victoria McGillin. “Our most important competition is with ourselves and our most important outcomes are the learning outcomes of our students.”

According to the guide, institutions in the Regional Universities category provide a full range of undergraduate and master’s programs while offering few, if any, doctoral programs. Otterbein offers master’s degrees in allied health, business, education, educational mathematics and nursing, and a doctor of nursing practice degree.

This year Otterbein competed with schools from Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa and Missouri for this honor. Peer institutions include Butler, Drake and Xavier universities. The rankings are based on 16 measures of “academic excellence,” which fall into six categories, peer assessment and graduation and retention rates being the most important. Presidents and academic vice presidents are surveyed in the spring each year and are asked to rate their peer institutions (those schools in the same category and region).

Otterbein also was recently recognized by Washington Monthly as a top school for contributions to the public good as measured by social mobility, research and service. Otterbein was ranked 10th in service and 52nd overall among 682 schools across the nation. Within the service category, Otterbein ranked seventh in community service participation by students.

###

/ Office of Marketing and Communications

The Office of Marketing and Communications is located at 141 W. Park St.